Animal Instincts
by MugenFlorence
Summary: "We're on the Dark Side!" exclaimed the Twins with a mock evil laugh. Hermione, who was sitting next to them, reached over and slapped the back of their heads.   An accident in the hospital wing causes a reaction similar to a creature inheritance in a strange group. Third year
1. It All Begins

Animal Instincts

Author's Note: For one I couldn't find any spells that cause partial animal transformations. I'm sure there are some, but I don't know them. However, I do know that the Homorohus spell is Lockhart's 'Werewolf cure.' I changed it to mean it turned a person into a partial wolf. This is AU and fanfiction, and it had to be done. Please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong (i.e. using 'there' instead of 'their' or any incorrections of the Harry Potter world) and how to correct it. Also I know this chapter is short, I'm trying to make them all longer.

Also I tried my best with Oliver's accent. If nothing else, it might make you laugh.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, J.K. Rowling does.

* * *

><p>Chapter 1<p>

Olliver ran his hands through his wet hair. He knew that it was cowardly to hide out in the locker room, but he just couldn't bring himself to care. It was his last year, he had to do good in the Quidditch Cup to be able to go professional!

Olliver sighed as he turned off the water and grabbed a towel. He'd better go make sure that Harry was okay.

"Ollie"  
>"We know"<br>"You're in"  
>"Here," and there were the twins making sure he didn't do anything drastic.<p>

"Hey guys, dorn't worry, Ah was jist gonnae see Harry," Oliver told them as he pulled on his shirt.

"Well what are we waiting on?" said the one Oliver guessed was George.

"Put on your robes and lets go!" finished Fred.

Oliver grabbed his robes and they left the locker room. Already he felt less mad and more quilty. It was his fault that Harry was in the hospital. Hadn't he said last year, "Catch the snitch or die trying?" Plus he was always pushing his team. And he'd been stressing the importance of winning the Quidditch Cup for as long as he could remember. Harry could be in the common room with his friends if not for Oliver.

"What's the matter Ollie?"  
>"You look like you've seen a ghost?"<p>

"Ah jist realized 'at I'l hae tae face Hermione," Oliver said horrified.

* * *

><p>Hermione, Ron, and Ginny's friend Luna were sitting on the beds around Harry's. Luna was definitely different, but Harry thought she'd fit in well with them. She seemed to have a nice personality, if a bit dreamy. Except for maybe with Hermione, who didn't seem to like Luna just for Luna's crazy ideas. Harry had a feeling that Hermione and Luna could be pretty good friends once they got over their differences.<p>

Right now Ginny was in the hall talking with one of her other friends that had walked by. Harry thought she seemed kind of distracted by something. He hoped after last year that it wasn't anything serious.

Harry had also been visited by almost the whole Gryfindor team when he first woke up. They's seemed sad to lose but optimistic about the Quidditch Cup. The only one who hadn't been there was Oliver. He looked up to see the Twins leading Oliver into the room. Speak-of-the-devil!

As soon as Hermione and Ron saw Oliver, they jumped up.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Hermione whispered heatedly.

"After what you told Harry, he's still beating himself up," Ron said, Harry mentally compared him to a mother hen.

"Then he's injured-"

"And he lost his broom!"

"Hold up you two," Fred interrupted.

At that moment three things.

Firstly Cedric Diggory and his friend, Alex Shale, walked in. The two had probably come to apologize again (Alex was beater for the Hufflepuff's). Cedric really felt bad about what happened with the match.

Secondly Madame Pomfrey walked out of her office with a tray of potions. She had planned to give them to Theodore Nott who had been brought in earlier by Draco Malfoy. Luckily for everyone, Draco had left earlier.

Thirdly, Hermione and Ron both tried to curse Oliver. Hermione used Homorphus and Ron used Locomoter Mortis. Hermione's curse was supposed to turn Oliver into a partial wolf. Ron's jinx was supposed to lock Oliver's legs together.

Unfortunately the two spells collided with the tray in a display of lights. Madame Pomfrey had her wand out and was able to cast a shield on herself, but none of the others. The potion splashed on everyone else, even the one behind the screeens. Harry later was said to have remembered a sharp pain before the darkness consumed them.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: So that was it. Please review. I think I'd even take flames, though they would NOT be appreciated.<p> 


	2. New Bodies

Author's Note: In the book, it doesn't mention Cedric's height. Instead I looked up Robert Patterson's height and used that. Also I've put a link to what I think Theodore Nott looked like before the change on my bio.

Chapter 2

Ron slowly stretched. He opened one eye to the blinding whiteness and silently groaned. He wasn't completely sure why he was in the hospital wing, but it probably wasn't good. Ron scratched the itchy fur on his stomach with his claws.

...

"Eep!" Ron yelped (sounding suspiciously like a dog).

He jumped up and ran out from behind the screen. Similar claws on his feet caused scratching noises that made him cover his ears.

There was a mirror set up between the beds that Ron didn't remember, but he took advantage of it. What he saw almost made him faint.

Standing in front of the mirror was definitely Ron, but the image looked nothing like what he remembered. He was only wearing hospital pants and for good reason. A long bushy tail emerged right above his pant line. Short red fur covered his whole body except for his face. His actual hair on his head was longer, straight, and falling his eyes.

His eyes might be the only thing that didn't change; staying a deep, cobalt blue. His hands and feet had a slight claw to them. His ears were on the top of his head and fuzzy.

All of his teeth were now sharp and even then, they were sharper then a regular humans. Finally he noticed that he had shrunk several inches, now standing at about 5'9" compared to his previous 6'5". Ron seemed to have been mixed with a red coyote.

From behind a similar curtain came Cedric.

Cedric was also only wearing hospital pants revealing that he was covered in short tan fur, probably deriving from his original sandy blonde hair. He had a longer, bushy tail also right above his pant line. His height had gone up to about 6'6", and he had more muscle. Like Ron, his face wasn't covered in fur. His eyes also remained their original grey.

His feet and claws also had a slight claw to them. Also his teeth were sharpened similarly to Ron's. His ears seemed to be at the top of his head and fuzzy. At first glance he seemed to be a hybrid of a human and wolf.

Cedric looked between Ron and himself in the mirror.

"What the bloody hell happened?" he growled even sounding like a wolf. Ron shrunk back a little; somehow knowing this was a larger canine.

"I don't know," yelped Ron, (Cedric probably would've laughed at his voice if it hadn't been for the situation).

Luckily for Ron, Hermione and Luna took that moment to come out from behind their screens. Immediately the two of them went to the mirror.

The first thing that Hermione noticed was that she had grown from her rather short 5' to probably 5'10". Then she noticed that her hair was now brown with white and black highlights mixed in. Finally she noticed that she was covered in short brown fur. This was the last thing she noticed because she was wearing standard issue hospital pants and a shirt.

Slowly she noticed other details. Her nails all had a point, but it was very slight. Her ears had moved to the top of her head. Her eyes had remained their normal hazel. She had gained a lot of muscle with all the height. She noticed that her teeth were all sharpened when she went to gasp.

"I think I'm a Border Collie. My family used to have one and I look a lot like it," said Hermione slowly. The others nodded with her, even Cedric already knew to believe Hermione.

Luna looked at herself closely. Normally she found it hard to connect with the world because of what she saw as a kid. Now her animal senses were making her stay focused.

She quickly noticed that she had grown quite a bit. She'd gone from 5'3" to 5'8" and gained a lot of muscle mass. She was covered in spotted white fur, imagine fur! Luna also noticed that her hair had changed from it's recent shoulder length cut to very long and straight. That's not to mention that it had black spots matching her fur.

Luna had seen Hermione's sharp teeth, so she hurried to look at her own. Yes, they were sharp, very sharp! Her ears had also moved to the top of her head. They felt round and fuzzy. The biggest difference between her and the others was that she had very sharp defined claws that she could retract.

Luna was struck speechless.

"Hey, you are you okay?" Cedric asked concerned.

Hermione immediately turned from her own reflection to Luna's.

"Luna! Are you okay? Come on sit down," Hermione carefully helped Luna sit down on one of the unscreened beds around the mirror. Slowly and calmly she started talking to her in the hope that Luna wouldn't pass out.

"So what do you think Luna is?" Ron asked the room in general.

"Probably a snow leopard," replied Hermione.

Then Harry came out from behind the curtain. There were several gasps.

"Harry," breathed Hermione.

"I know. Just…can you give me something for my eyes?" asked Harry. Hermione quickly tore a strip from the bottom of her shirt. She proceeded to transfigure it into a pitch black blindfold.

"I made it like a one way mirror. You can see out, but we can't see your eyes," Hermione explained as Harry tied it on.

Harry seemed to have gone through the most drastic change so far. The first thing you would notice was that his eyes were a sickening yellow. Luckily Harry had found he had a third 'clear' eyelid that separates the eyeball from directly looking at people. For Harry had turned into a partial Basilisk, eyes and all. It took Harry thinking about the eyelid for it to stay in place, so the blindfold was necessary.

Before they blindfolded his eyes, the second thing they noticed was the red scales around Harry's eyes.

The third thing they noticed was the two large fangs that he had. Every time he talked they could see them flash like a vampire's. However his weren't for sucking blood, they were for sending venom through his victim's bloodstream. And Hermione was pretty sure that Harry had venom.

"Yeah, I can feel it on my teeth," he said with a grimace when she asked.

All of Harry was covered in scales, except for his face. Most of them seemed to be green, but he had stripes of lighter green scales. Where his hair should be were black scales. They found out with experiment that he could actually open them like a frill when he was mad. They also found out that all of his teeth had been sharpened, not just his fangs. He had grown taller (around 5'9") and gained a lot of muscle mass. The last change they found were the black claws on his hands and feet.

As the current hybrids were standing or sitting around speechless, they heard another rustling. Another changed student was going to come out.

"Eh, whit was aw 'at noise abit?" asked Oliver rubbing his eyes.

Oliver hadn't changed as dangerously as Harry, but he had changed. He seemed to be a parrot, feathers and all. He was covered in bright red feathers. They had replaced his hair, too. Oliver's lips had changed to a solid black. He'd also kept his brown eyes. He'd grown from 6'3" to about 6'8" He had gained some muscle mass, but he'd already had quite a lot.

The change that most fit Oliver were the large pair of wings on his back. They were in typical parrot colors; green, yellow, and blue. He still had his arms.

"Do you think he could fly with those?" asked Luna relieving everyone and also raising an excellent question. Everyone knew how much Oliver liked flying.

"Who knows, you'll have to try one day," said Harry with a smile at Oliver.

"Ye kno' it," said Oliver returning the smile.

Next Alex and Theodore came out from behind their respective curtains.

Alex caused some confusion, but less shock as more people came. Alex had black lips, but it wasn't a beak. He didn't have teeth, but he noticed that his gums were hard and ridged seemingly for grinding food. He didn't have wings which helped support the 'I'm not a bird' theory.

He was also covered in sleek brown fur. His hair looked like someone had gelled it back. His normal pale green eyes had changed into solid black with no visible whites. His hands and feet were completely webbed with only a small claw.

He seemed to have a beaver tail right above his pant line. When he finally got over the shock of his appearance, he pointed out little spurs on his ankles. Finally he had grown to about 6'5" and gained muscle.

"Wow dude what happened to you?" joked Cedric. "Its like you shrunk."

"Really because I think you just grew," replied Alex with a smile.

Theodore had had a rather drastic change. The first thing you noticed was that all color seemed to have been bleached from him. The students were guesing he was some sort of albino. The fact that he had bright red eyes seemed to support that.

He was completely covered in all white scales, even his face. His teeth were all very sharp and there even seemed to be more then normal. He had slightly webbed hands and feet with white claws. He had grown much taller. He'd probably gone from 6' to 7'. He also had a lot more muscle.

"So we're just waiting on the twins?" asked Ron.

"I think Madame Pomfrey got a shield up around herself, so yeah," said Harry.

The current group of eight students sat around. Some of them sat on beds or looked in the mirror. Theodore actually went to sleep on one of the unscreened beds. Hermione spent her time braiding Luna's hair to try and keep both of them calm.

"That's it let's just wake them up," said Harry and Ron agreed, neither very patient in their new forms.

"Yeah I think that's a good idea," agreed Cedric.

The group walked over to the beds where the twins were. Their beds had only one screen around them. When they opened it, they saw the twins playing Tic-tac-toe on the sheets with a ball point pen that they had.

The twins were still identical. All the way to the tips of their ears. Which, by the way, were now on the top of their heads and pointed like a cats. The purebloods recognized them as Mountain Bobcats, a magical animal that was a mix of a bobcat and mountain lion.

They were covered in short fur that had spots similar to a bobcat's. They now towered above the others at around 7'3". Also they pointed out that they had a poison in their saliva. Oliver remembered that Magical Bobcats have saliva with a paralyzing quality. Their hands had slight claws and their teeth were sharpened. You could tell with a glance that their bodies were meant to kill. Of course, their personalities helped to cancel that out.

"What took you lot so long?" asked Fred. The twins grinned at the disgruntled faces.

"Ugh, I cannot believe you two," Hermione threw her hands up in the air.

"So why are we all still here?"

"Are they just going to leave us here."

"I think I'm starving. I can see my life flashing before my eyes!"

"RON! Shut up!"

"You know what, I'm going to try the door," said Theodore.

"Yeah, why didn't we think of that," asked Alex.

However when they tried the doors, they were locked. The dejected students went back to the beds to wait.

Then the door opened as soon as they sat down.

In walked Professor Dumbledore, the Heads of the Houses, and Madame Pomfrey.

Author's Note: Well here's chapter two. Thank you so much to anyone who's reviewed. Please include anything I mistakes I made. Oh by the way, did anyone catch where I put in house unity besides the people I picked? Please R&R.


	3. Explanations Part 1

Chapter 3

"This was a most unusual event," said Dumbledore looking unusually grave, "To start, do you have any questions?"

"I do sir, I was actually wondering how you knew when to come in. Did you put some kind of monitoring charm on the door?" asked Hermione always curious for more knowledge.

"Ahh that was a special charm. I set it up so that I would know when you students tried to turn the knob, not just touch the door. I was afraid that even if you knew the door was an escape route, you might be feral. If you remembered how to turn the door knob, I was pretty sure you were back to normal. Well normal mindset anyway. I also gave you three minutes after you turned the handle so that everyone would hopefully be out of the way," explained Dumbledore looking like the teacher he once was.

"That's brilliant, Professor," said Theodore.

"Thank you, it was actually Professor Snape who gave me the idea," said Dumbledore with a twinkle. "Now I'm guessing you want to know what happened?"

"That"

"Would"

"Be"

"Nice"

"Sir," said the twins.

"Ah something decidedly magical happened today," said Dumbledre with a twinkle. "When Mr. Weasley's and Ms. Granger's spell connected with the potions they mixed in a slight explosion. The explosion caused the potion to hit everyone except for Madame Pomfrey who was shielded."

Madam Pomfrey interrupted at this point with a teary exclamation of "Sorry" over and over again. Professor Flitwick took her over to the side and gave her a calming draught.

"As of right now we're not completely sure what happened. Our theory is that the potion turned into a transmitter for the spell. The two spells, a jelly-legs and animal transformation, mixed. The animal transformation caused the changes you see now. However the jelly-legs acted like an anchor making sure that you only had a partial transformation, since the jelly-legs only works on a human."

"Wow that's kind of mind blowing," said Ron looking rather blown.

"Ron, anything could confuse you," said Hermione with a smile. Ron made a face before they turned back to Dumbledore who was smiling.

"Sir, I'm kind of confused about why Theodore ("Call me Teddy") is an albino. That's not his hair color or skin color which seemed to have influenced the rest of us," asked Alex.

"I can answer that," said Professor Flitwick. "Only a little potion splashed on Mr. Nott do to the fact the he was so far away. This meant that there was enough potion for the transformation, but not to add any personal characteristics. All of the potion went directly to the physical change and not the coloring."

"As it stands this was a most unusual and stressing transformation, trust me, not just for you. However it does lead to some sacrifice on your part," said Dumbledore looking serious again.

"Sacrifice, sir?" Hermione asked what was on all their minds.

"Ah this is a rather confusing matter. Please bear with me. To start off I should probably tell you that the first reactions most people would have is to think you youngsters had some kind of creature inheritance. You should also know of the Wizarding World's feelings on creature inheritances."

"But sir, I thought creature inheritances were impossible for muggleborns?" this was Cedric with a not-so-subtle glance at Hermione.

"They are, which is why its all very foolish, but true. People might even be as extreme as to start rumors that Miss. Granger is actually not a muggleborn. However I am asking if any of you know the Wizarding World's opinion on creature inheritances? Its fine if you don't," asked Professor Dumbledore.

"They hate them," said Teddy.

"Sadly true. I think I will have Professor Snape explain the rest," said Professor Dumbledore.

Professor Snape looked at the 10 half human faces around him. He transfigured a tray that had been sitting on a bed into a chair.

"You might as well sit on the beds; this could take a while," growled Snape sounding displeased that he even had to offer basic creature comforts.

_Author's Note- Here's the third chapter. I don't know if I ever said for sure which kids have a tail so I'm just going to put a list:_

_Hermione, Ron, Luna, Cedric, Alex, and the Twins have tails. Oliver has wings. Harry and Teddy are covered in scales, but Teddy's are larger and rougher. Harry's are exactly like a basilisk's. I guess you could say they are smooth and small. _


	4. Explanations Part 2

Author's Note: I went back and did quite a bit of editing to the first three chapters. You might want to go back and read it to completely understand the story. For example, I originally gave Oliver a bird's beak, but I changed my mind and removed the beak.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, absolutely nothing!

Chapter 4

"I guess it's time for a history lesson," said Snape. Most of the boys quickly put on their "Binns' Lecture Look." It was characterised by the glazed eyes and slow-forming piles of drool. "I doubt you've heard anything like it from Binns, so I highly suggest paying gattention."

"It all started in the Founders' time. As you may remember, Hogwarts was the first school to welcome muggleborns. About ten years after the start of the school, Ravenclaw became worried. She had ended up marrying a male veela. She saw the prejudices so many muggleborns carried, and she worried for her children.

She went and talked to Slytherin. At that time, Slytherin was distrustful of muggleborns, but he didn't hate them. Ravenclaw shared her worries with him, and they agreed that something needed to be done. When they first presented their worries to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, they expected arguements. However, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had seen the fear-driven fights and arguements between the students. Together they came up with a plan.

The four decided to offer an alternative house. It became known as the Night Class. It was to be refuge for magical creatures."

"With it being a refuge, they also set up guidlines," said Dumbledore, taking over for Snape. "The students who could hide their natures or who had creatures that were acceptable, like veela, stayed in day classes. In the end, Ravenclaw didn't even need to be worried about her own children. There had to be at least five students for there to be a Night Class. There could be no more than 50."

"Did they ever have 50 students, Professor?" asked Hermione.

"Not in the Founders' time, though they have several times sense. Another rule was about the teachers. A seperate teacher (or teachers) had to be hired who had experience with magical creatures. There could be no more than three teachers at a time due to the importance of the secret. Normally for a group your size, there would be two teachers. I think I know just the people for the job," said Dumbledore.

"Are there any questions?" Snape glowered at the students.

"So we will use certain classrooms during the night for our classes?" asked Ron.

"Yes, there-in being the point fo the empty classrooms and the name, Night Class. There is also a seperaate common room and dorms area, as well as a cafeteria," replied Snape.

"Why would we need a seperate dorm area?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore sighed, "I'm sorry for the accident that caused your transformations. Sadly, due to current laws, you will have to take your classes in secret. It's been that way sense the first Night Class. Know that we are looking for a way to reverse your changes."

"But sir, what about our friends? They're sure to wonder where we are!" exclaimed Cedric.

"And what about our families, when word spreads to them that we're missing?" asked Alex.

'They're just too young,' thought Dumbledore, looking at the faces of the teens filled with worry before replying. "Ahhh, that is where a bit of sacrifice on your parts comes play. The public will be informed of your tragic deaths in a horrible accident."

The teenagers (and almost teenager in Luna's case) looked horrified. They all started murmuring and arguing.

"But my parents!"

"This won't work!"

"I'll miss my friends!"

"Children," said Professor McGonagall, stepping in, "Please realize that for now this is only temporary; as soon as we find a cure, everyone will be informed and you can go back to your old lives. It simply wouldn't be safe for you to go as you are."

"Professur, whit abit Quidditch?" asked Oliver.

Professor McGonagall slowly closed her eyes, "I'm sorry Oliver." Oliver looked absolutely devasted.

"With the war and current opinions, you will have to be completely seperate from your old lives. In concern to one question though, I do think you have enough players for a pickup Quidditch game every now and then," said Dumbledore, with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Because of the war, we have to ask each of you which side your on. We brought with us a Telling Stone, which will tell us if you're lying," Snape said, glaring at each student except for Theodore.

"One at a time please," said Dumbledore seriously, turning to Harry.

"The Light Side of course!" exclaimed Harry affronted.

"Th' Light Side," said Oliver as they started to go around the semi-circle of students.

"Light Side," said Ron.

"Light Side, the bloody bastards killed my parents," growled Alex.

"The Light Side," said Cedric.

"The Dark Side!" exclaimed the Twins with an mock evil laugh. The Telling Stone turned from a dark blue to a bright yellow. Hermione who was sitting next to the Twins reached over and slapped the back of their heads.

"Light Side, jeez Hermione, we were just kidding," said the Twins covering their heads with their arms.

"The Light Side," said Hermione. She poked Luna who was sitting next to her and seemed to be daydreaming.

"Oh, the Light Side of course," said Luna.

Finally they had gotten to Theodore.

"The Light Side," he said without pausing to think even a second. They all turned to look at the Telling Stone. It remained a dark blue.

Theodore looked insulted, "Just because I'm in Slytherin doesn't mean I'm evil. My father may have been a Death Eater, but look where that got him. He's in Azkaban and I live with my great aunt from my mother's side. I've never even talked to him."

"Sorry"

"To"

"Have"

"Doubted"

"You," said the Twins, giving Theodore a friendly slap on the back and others also nodded with varied degrees of shame and acceptance.

Dumbledore looked relieved that everyone had proven to be on the Light Side. He said, "You will need to help each other. You're about to face a very difficult time, and you will need all the support you can get." He looked solemnly at each serious face staring back at him.

"Well let's get you to your new dorms. Your things have been sent ahead," said McGonagall, her and the other Heads of the Houses leading the way. Dumbledore walked at the back of the group in case of stragglers.

The students looked over at each other and knew they had things to talk about, but had to hurry just to keep up with McGonagall.


	5. Settling In

The strange group traveled until they had gotten to the fourth floor. The fourth floor held rooms like the Restricted Section of the Library and the storage room that had once held the Mirror of Erised. However, Professor McGonagall didn't go to either of these locations. Instead, she stopped in the middle of a seemingly unimportant corridor.

At each end of the corridor was a suit of armor. There also wasn't a single painting. There were several large tapestries, but no portraits. The group of students looked around in confusion. They figured that McGonagall had gotten lost and Dumbledore would take over leading the way. It was strange though, for McGonagall to have gotten lost.

Instead of anything like that happening, all the teachers stared at a seemingly blank part of the wall.

Flitwick turned to smile at the students, "Am I right in assuming that you only see a blank wall?" When the students nodded he continued, "Now what would you do if I told you that there was a tapestry on the wall?"

The students stared at the wall. At first, they saw only the blank wall. After Flitwick mentioned a tapestry, however, they started to see one.

The basic shape of it seemed to mold itself from the stone walls. Slowly lines seemed to draw themselves and color appeared to bleed on. The top half looked to be a starry, night sky with a detailed full moon in the corner. Below, there was a pentagon drawn on dirt. At each point of the pentagon was a different magical creäture. Vampire, Giant, Werewolf, Goblin, and Elf. Surrounding the clearing were thick woods. There seemed to be even more faces peaking from between the branches.

Flitwick stepped forward and traced the pentagon. Then he said, "Dust" and walked behind the tapestry. The other teachers followed. Dumbledore gave a look to the teens as if to say, "After you." Bravely, Cedric stepped through first. The others quickly followed.

On the other side of the tapestry was a small landing before a long, spiraling staircase. The teachers were no where in sight. At the top of the stairs there seemed to be a light.

"Do we really want to go towards the light?" asked Alex.

"Mr. Shale, I assure you that you do, in fact, want to go towards the light at the end of the tunnel, or rather staircase," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes.

The teens bravely walked up the staircase to find...a room.

"This is the common room for the Night Class," said Professor Sprout.

It was rather different from the common rooms for the other houses. It had a neutral salt and pepper colored carpet with black furniture and white walls.

Color was included through many ways. The paintings (all of landscapes and not people) were done in color -crashing waves in one portrait, swaying trees in another. There were tons of throw blankets and throw pillows each done in a different red, blue, yellow, or green.

The actual layout of the common room was different too. The main shape of the room was a square. It seemed that it had been divided into four smaller squares by each corner. On the wall across from the entrance were two doors side by side. On either side of the entrance there was a door built into the wall. The doors also helped to divide the large common room.

On either side of the door was a fireplace (currently blazing away). Surrounding the fires were overstuffed armchairs and couches.

Across from one of the fires was a corner of the room filled with a variety of tables and chairs. Each table was different and the chairs at that table seemed to match it. There were tables practically touching the ground with cushions for chairs. There was a table so high in the air that it needed bar stools.

The last corner seemed to be a meeting area. There was a large bulletin board on the wall. Directly across from it (and partly against the wall next to it) was a sectional couch. In the last part of the square (with plenty of room for walking in between them) were four large armchairs. Each chair was a different house color.

All together, there was plenty of wiggle room. There seemed to be enough light to read or do homework without being glaringly bright.

The teens looked around their new area. They were happy about the space.

"It isn't really what I was expecting. I was thinking more Ravenclaw-y, sense it was her idea," said Ron.

"This is the upper part of the Stone Bridge Tower. It is one of four towers surrounding the Quad. The first landing on it is used to connect the First Floor Corridor to the Stone Bridge," said Professor Dumbledore.

"Yeah, we've used it Professor, but it couldn't have more than two stories. Everyone just assumes the second story is empty or something because there's no way to it," said Cedric.

"Actually the tower is five stories tall. The second story is the staircase we went up. The third story is the common room and teacher offices. The fourth story is the dorms and the teachers' rooms. The fifth story is currently empty, I believe you can use that area for whatever purpose you find," replied Dumbledore. "Through the tapestry is the only way to get here. Dust is a generic password. The teachers and myself are leaving to let you settle in. I will be back in a couple of hours with your teachers. Please think of a new password in that time."

"One thing Professor, how do we not notice that the tower is so tall?" asked Hermione.

"Through the use of powerful illusion charms and a ward that if you are flying makes you go around it while thinking you are going straight. We've never had any problems except for one adventurous lad who was training for-" McGonagall interrupted Dumbledore with a slight cough. "The point is, you are very safe here. Anyway I think you have some unpacking to do. Those two doors on the wall across from the entrance are the doors to the dorms. The boy dorms are the left and the girls dorms are the right. The other two doors are for the teachers. I would kindly suggest not messing with them."

With that the teachers walked out of the common room and apparently back the way they came.

Luna stepped forward smiling brightly, "Look at the Airsnaps making a nest in the corner!"

The Twins stepped on either side of her,"Indeed!"

"Look"  
>"At"<br>"That"  
>"Design!"<br>"So complex!"

Harry smiled indulgently and stepped forward too. He wasn't sure if the twins really believed that they could see those animals or if they were just talking to Luna as part of their mission to make everyone happy. He had a feeling it was a mixture of both.

"Are they the little blue creatures?" he asked Luna.

"They're grey, Harry," said Luna giving him a look.

"Yes Harry," said one twin who might be Fred.

"It's clearly grey," continued one twin who might be George.

"Do you need to get your eyes checked?" they asked together.

"No! It's just the blindfold," exclaimed Harry. The Twins sighed and shook their heads. Luna walked over and patted Harry on the shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~-Page break-~~~~~~~~~~~

The students went up to their dorms. The boys dorm was all gold furniture. It also had dark blue walls and sheets. It was soothing and surprisingly calm.

Originally there was a different room for each year level. However, the boys were all nervous about the changes. Plus without their other year mates, it was rather lonely. Especially for Oliver. It started with Oliver asking to join the Twins and past Hufflepuffs. Then Ron, Harry, and Theodore wanted to join the Fifth years too, but there weren't enough beds. Then the room changed and seemed to add the other year rooms to itself, growing. After a bright flash of light there was plenty of room and enough beds for everyone.

The boys got a brief glance of their bathroom before Oliver locked himself into it. It seemed that the loss of Quidditch had finally caught up to him.

The boys lavatory was done in silver with yellow accents (these accents including towels and floor mats). It had the typical row of shower stalls and toilet stalls on one side. On the other were sinks and urinals.

The boys looked at each other.

"Well they said it was only temporary, so we really don't need to unpack..." said Harry slowly.

"Yeah, we can live out of our suitcases for a week or so," agreed Alex.

Each boy claimed the bed they wanted- leaving one for Oliver. Then they turned to the task of trying to get Oliver out of the bathroom. He was a seventh year, so he knew more locking charms than any of them. At first it was a little funny, but as time went on the boys had to use the bathroom.

After about a half hour, they gave up and went to the common room. The girls were already done there and had a good laugh over some of the boy's potty dances.

"Have to use the loo?" asked Hermione giggling.

"It's not funny. Oliver locked himself in our bathroom and now some of us really have to go," explained Ron crossly.

"Let me lock our trunks and then you can use the girl's loo. Oh, can you go up the stairs to the other dorms?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know but let's find out," said Alex leading the way to the girls dorm. Hermione rushed after them and put several charms on her and Luna's trunks.

The girl's dorm had all silver furniture with pale yellow walls and sheets. It was clear that Luna and Hermione had already decided to share a dorm. It was also a very soothing mix of colors. Like the boys, the girls hadn't unpacked either. The boys hardly even noticed that as they rushed into the lavatory. The girls lavatory was done in bronze with red accents.

Hermione went back down to the common room frowning, "Come Harry, we're going talk to Oliver."

Harry turned to make a 'Why me?' look at Hermione when he realized two things. One, Hermione had already turned her back and was marching, er walking to the bathroom to talk to Oliver. Secondly, he was luckily still wearing his blindfold, so she couldn't have seen his look anyway.

Hermione walked up to the door of the loo with Harry reluctantly following her.

"Oliver you have five seconds to open this door," she called through the door. She looked at her watch as she counted down. "Alright, you better be decent."

"What!" yelped Harry and Oliver.

"I'm coming in whether you let me or not," said Hermione. She took out her wand and started dismantling the locking charms. After removing only two, they felt the others disappear, meaning Oliver had taken them down.

Hermione started to walk in when she realized that Harry was trying to sneak away. "Men," she grumbled as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him in with her. They looked in to see Oliver sitting in one of the tiled shower stalls. His knees were pulled up to his chest with his face resting on them. He seemed completely devastated.

Hermione grabbed a roll of toilet paper from a nearby stall and transfigured it into a cushion. She sat cross-legged on it right by the entrance of Oliver's stall. Harry decided to forgo any transfiguration attempts (he could already imagine some cushion monster that you could break off into square chunks chasing him around the bathroom -shudder-) and just sat down cross-legged next to Hermione.

"Are you upset because of not being able to compete in the Quidditch cup?" asked Hermione gently.

Oliver stared at the tiled stall distantly, "Did ye know 'at Ah've always wanted tae be a pro Quidditch player. It was originally mah dad's dream. But 'en he got 'urt real bad in his seventh year an' th' Healers wouldnae lit heem play. When Ah was born, aw he would talk abit was Quidditch. He bought me mah first broom a year afore th' age limit and freaked mah maw out. We would constantly practise togetha'. Our loove ay Quidditch was th' only thing we hud in common."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. That explained a lot about Oliver's maniacal drive to win at Quidditch.

"Oliver, this is only supposed to be temporary. We'll be out of here before you know it, and you'll be back to trying to kill us at practice," said Harry trying to comfort Oliver.

"It's mah fault ye know. If Ah wasnae pushin' ye aw sae hard, ye wouldnae hae gone tae extremes tae catch 'at snitch. Ye wouldnae hae bin hurt. Nane ay thes would've happened," said Oliver with real agony in his voice, apparently blaming himself for their whole mess.

"Oliver, it wasn't your fault. Do you really think I would've gone after that Snitch any differently if you hadn't been pushing us?" asked Harry.

"Is it my fault because I tried to curse you?" asked Hermione.

"No," said Oliver.

"Besides, I think we have plenty of players for a friendly game of Quidditch. Not to mention we need someone to go out there and at least attempt to control the Twins," said Harry.

"But whit am Ah gonnae dae wi' mah life? If we dae gie stuck haur for longer mah dream is ruined. Ah dornt hae onie other ideas fur mah life!" exclaimed Oliver.

"Oliver you are amazing at Charms. The best in your grade and you know it. I bet if we get a teacher who's good at charms you could be an apprentice. The rest of your grades are good enough to allow you to. Or you could even be an apprentice to Professor Flitwick if we get out of here soon enough. Even if we do get out of here tomorrow, I would still suggest doing it. You can't play Quidditch forever," said Hermione.

Oliver nodded slowly, "Thanks guys, Ah needed 'at.

"Come on, I think we need to have a meeting to go over some stuff. You'd probably better be there," said Harry offering a hand to Oliver to help him up.

The trio walked out to the common room to see that everyone else was already sitting in the meeting area. They cheered when they saw Oliver up and walking.

"Well,"

"Let's talk," said the Twins.


	6. The Meeting

Author's Note: So here's chapter six. From here on out, I'm going to refer to Theodore Nott as Teddy when he's talking or whatever. It's what he wants :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but J.K. Rowling does.

~~~~~~~~~~-Page Break-~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Quidditch cup sure is going to suck this year," said Alex breaking the silence.

"Yeah, our team losing two members this late in the year," complained Cedric.

"I'm just glad that the girls had already visited Harry and left. Otherwise, Gryffindor would have lost its entire team," grumbled Fred.

"Are they even going to have a Quidditch cup this year?" asked Hermione. All of the boys turned to glare at her. After a minute of thinking though, the thought almost seemed to comfort Oliver.

There was a pause, almost as if everyone was gathering their thoughts and mentally preparing themselves for what they were about to talk about.

"Well, let's get to the subject we're all thinking about. What did Dumbledore mean when he said war?" asked Teddy.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry looked at each other. Together, they started to tell about their first two and a half years.

"So, You-Know-Who is really out there trying to gain his strength and followers back? And even though we aren't in a war this second, it's more of a matter of waiting for him to declare war than the war the war not happening at all?" the trio nodded.

"And Sirius Black supposedly broke out of Azkaban to kill Harry and tie up some loose ends?" the trio nodded again.

"Last, but not least, Dumbledore's trying to say that Harry's mother's death protected him from the Killing Curse?"

"It did!" exclaimed Harry insulted.

"Harry, lot's of mothers died for their children and then their children died too. It was a war after all. Something there isn't adding up. You can't deny that it could be something simple, like Dumbledore's just not telling you everything," said Alex.

"Alex's mother died for him, but I'm not going to practise the Killing Curse on him. I just think that we should look into it. I'm willing to volunteer to be the one doing the research," said Cedric.

"I'll help too," said Alex.

"Is there anything else?" asked Teddy.

"Well," said the Twins staring at each other, "We might have something, but you would all have to swear to secrecy on it."

Everyone swore that they would never tell anyone outside of the people in the room about whatever secret the Twins had.

**"Well...when we were in our first year - young, carefree, and innocent -"** several members of the room snorted, it was highly debatable about whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.

**"-well, more innocent than we are now-we got into a spot of bother with Filch."**

**"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason-"**

**"So he hauled us off to is office and started threatening us with the usual-"**

**"-detention-"**

**"-disembowelment-"**

**"-and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked** _**Confiscated and Highly** **Dangerous."**_

"Oh, please don't be going where I think this is going," murmured Hermione.

"**Well, what would you've done?** Avoided the drawer and let your curiosity build and build until you couldn't handle it and decided to break _into_ Filch's office? Why wait all that time when we where already in there?" Fred said. **"George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open and grabbed - _this."_**

**"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."**

"And _you_ figured out how it?" asked Cedric.

**"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in the school."**

"You're winding us up," said Ron.

**"Oh are we?" said George.**

**He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."_**

**At once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:**

**_Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_**  
><strong><em>Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers <em>**  
><strong><em>are proud to present <em>**  
><strong><em>THE MARAUDER'S MAP<em>**

**It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing were the thin ink dots moving around it, each labeled with a name in minuscule writing. **Astounded, the teens crowded for a closer look.** A labeled dot showed the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was bouncing around the trophy room. **

Hermione was the first to notice it, "Those passages there lead away from the Hogwarts!"

"Right there, Hermione," said George. "There are seven in all, but Filch knows about these four (pointing to the passageways on the map) and we used to use this passageway, but it caved in last winter. We reckon no ones ever used that passageway because it starts directly under the Whomping Willow. The only reasonable passageway is the one behind the one-eyed old crone statue."

"We thought the map showed everything there was to Hogwarts-"

"-but if there's this room, there could be even more that hasn't been discovered! We would like it to be our job to ind all the passageways we can. Think of how that would help us to be able to more around the school!" the Twins looked thrilled at the prospect of more exploring.

"This is amazing just as it is! We can use this to get around the castle when we want to; we aren't going to be stuck in this room for the rest of our school careers! However, exploring would probably be a good job for you guys," cried Cedric.

"Well yes, but remember to wipe the map when you're done using it. Just tap it with your wand and say, 'Mischief Managed,' or anyone could read it," said Fred.

The group was much more excited after that. Now they knew that even if their stay ended up being a little longer than they would have enjoyed, they wouldn't get cabin fever.

"Why do you think we're so trusting of each other?" asked Ron. "I mean, Harry, Hermione, and myself didn't tell our adventures to anyone for almost three years and now we just tell you guys?"

"Yeah-"

"-the only person-"

"-we told about the Marauder's Map was Lee-"

"-and he's our accomplice," said the Twins.

"I think it has to do with our new animals sides," said Luna. "I think part of me considers you guys as part of my...pack, for lack of a better word."

"I agree, my dog side considers you my pack and won't let me go against that," agreed Hermione.

"Yeah, I think even _my animal_ is afraid of getting lonely. Plus I think our animal natures just find it easier to trust one another than say a plain witch or wizard with no animal nature," said Harry.

"That makes sense. I've found it to be harder to trust plain humans. My creäture side seems to have come with a natural feeling of distrust towards humans. That's probably why we were so quick to point out the hole in Dumbledore's explanation," said Cedric.

"We're still not sure that Dumbledore was wrong," grumbled Harry.

"Harry, it really doesn't make sense. There's something missing in that explanation," Hermione pointed out. Harry made a face, but -at least in his head - he had to admit that what they were saying made sense.

"We can at least look into it," he finally conceded.

"Speaking of **animal instincts**, has anyone else noticed an overwhelming want to scratch behind their ears?" asked Ron. The whole group laughed, dissolving the tension.

"Merlin's Blue Balls! I just realized that none of us are wearing shoes!" shouted Alex, causing the startled the teens to look down at their feet. Similar exclamations followed when they realized that Alex was correct.

"I didn't even notice; it just felt so natural to go without," said Hermione slowly.

"Hey do you guys remember how dogs and cats have pads on their feet that act as an extra sense? I think that's what its like with the canine and feline transformations," said Cedric.

"I don't know about you, Teddy, but without anyone else worrying over shoes, I didn't even think about it. Plus my scales work as a protective layer. I don't think I'd need shoes unless anyone really minds me going barefoot," said Harry.

Teddy nodded, "I agree. My scales do make shoes rather pointless. Not to mention, I think my scales have better tread than my shoes ever did."

"Guys, Ah dornt hink Ah can wear shoes," said Oliver. The other students looked over to see something new. Where Oliver's toes should be, were two large talons. At the back of his foot was another talon. In front of their eyes he flexed his foot, revealing that his foot had an extra joint in the middle, allowing the talons to come together.

"How about all in favor of going without shoes raises their hands," said Ron raising his own hand. Everyone else raised their hands. "Alright, then we're not going to be bothered by it or whine about it, right?" Everyone nodded.

"By the way, does anyone know what I am?" asked Alex.

"Well the most noticeable features on you are a beaver's tail, poisonous spurs on your ankles, webbed hands and feet, and black lips without teeth," listed Hermione.

Harry looked up quickly, "Hermione, do you think he could be a platypus?"

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" said Hermione smiling.

"What's a platypus?" Alex looked slightly nervous.

"...its like a mix between a duck and a beaver with all of your physical characteristics," said Hermione trying to explain it to wizards and a witch who had never taken a science class.

"And _how_ do you mix a duck and beaver together without magic?" Alex whispered to Cedric. Cedric just shrugged.

"You know, we got very lucky with our tails. One inch lower and we would've had to mess with our pants and try to deal with them," said Hermione.

"Yeah, but as it is, my tail gets stuck on my shirt. Then my shirt starts riding up, showing my back. It'd be nice to find a reversible change charm to maybe create a slit at the bottom of our shirts to just let them slip over the tails," Cedric said thinking.

"Yeah, aam gonnae hae tae cut holes in th' back ay mah shirts. It would be nice tae be able tae reverse it when they fin' a cure fur our transformations," said Oliver. The others nodded.

"So maybe we can find a reversable modification charm. Hermione, you're the best at research and Luna, you're the most creative with your clothes, would you two be okay with that job?" asked Harry.

"Sure," said Luna as Hermione nodded.

"Do you guys think that maybe we should've wrote some of this done, for future notice?" asked Alex.

"Already done. I was worried that you might want to go back over something we mentioned about our adventures, so I grabbed by Self-Writing Quill. I bought it this summer because of when my hand started cramping during research sessions. Now I can just read or say what I want for notes," said Hermione.

"Excellent-"

"-we will assign the job-"

"- of secretary to that quill,-"

"-it better be up to it," said the Twins.

"'spikin ay yer adventures, Ah hud a question 'at Ah jist remembered. Harry, wa waur thaur bars oan yer windae?" asked Oliver, his face turning serious. The other teens faces turned serious too.

"Yeah Harry, I never really thought about it, but why were there bars on your windows?" asked George.

"Well...I just...ya' know," Harry stuttered, not really able to think of an explanation. "They didn't want to risk anyone breaking it."

"On a second story window? Crime isn't that bad, especially not in your area Harry," said Hermione slowly.

Harry drew his knees up to himself on the armchair he sitting and looked down.

"So, it's not typical for muggles to put bars on their windows?" Cedric asked Hermione.

"No and I can't believe I didn't notice that before," said Hermione thinking fast about all the other things her brain had filed away that she'd never questioned. Harry never left Hogwarts for holidays and he hated summer break. This summer he'd spent three weeks of the summer at Diagon Alley instead of just apologising to his family. His clothes were always a couple of sizes too big and threadbare. "Harry, what're your relatives like."

"They're fine, they just don't like me much. Plus they're worried if they spend too much on me, Dudley won't love them as much," this was mumbled through Harry's knees. Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The Weasleys who were present all looked horrified that they hadn't noticed this earlier. Luna saw that while Cedric, Alex, Teddy, and Oliver had their suspicions, they weren't sure about anything.

"Harry, was abused and none of us noticed," she leaned over and whispered to them. Oliver, Alex, and Cedric looked murderous. Teddy looked neutral, like he wasn't sure if he was a close enough friend of Harry's to get mad yet.

"How could anyone do that to a child! It's a miracle that Harry didn't turn out to be some horrible bully," Cedric whispered heatedly back. Hermione and Ron were over whispering with Harry. The three didn't seem to notice the others talking.

"Maybe we should change the subject for now. It clearly bothers Harry, and we have until the summer to find out something to do about it," said Alex.

"I'll look up ways tae help heem," Oliver volunteered, still looking mad.

"One more question and then we'll change the subject," said Cedric quickly, "Harry, do you know who put you with your family?"

"Uhm Dumbledore is the one who insists that I go back there every summer. He saws it has to do with blood protection, so I'd guess he had a strong hand in it," with that, Dumbledore lost even more of the respect of the group.

"He can be so nice, even saying maybe we could play Quidditch. Either he's very oblivious to the effects of some of the other things he's done, or he has a manipulative side. I wonder if we can figure out which?" wondered Alex loud enough for them all to hear.

"For now I say we play along like we still think he's a grandfatherly old man, but secretly observe him incase he is manipulative and he slips up. Oh, my aunt used to tell me about an ability to read minds, I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore knew it," said Teddy revealing his Slytherin side. The others were startled by this new revelation.

"That would explain how he knew so much. Though if he knows it, I'm sure Snape does too. Teddy, did your aunt mention anyway to defend against it?" said Hermione.

"She said the simplest way was to avoid eye contact, but there was another defence too. I don't know it though," said Teddy.

"Alright, Teddy and Ron would you be willing to help me do some research? Plus if any of you older guys gets a chance to help, that would be appreciated," said Harry, glad to be off the subject of his family.

"When Dumbledore visits, the best approach is probably to avoid his eyes when you can, but not so much as to make him suspicious. When you do have to meet his eyes, don't think of anything important," said Teddy.

"So we all have our main projects to work on, plus if we find anything useful to another project, we mention it?" asked Luna for clarification.

"Right," said Harry.

"I feel like since we're a group all against evil and not only are witches and wizards, we also have our creatures sides, that we need a name. Like a superhero group!" said Luna all excited. The group of students looked at each other and laughed.

"I don't know about being superheros, but we do need a name to call ourselves. We're different and we might as well have something to better to refer to ourselves as than hybrids," said Alex lightly.

"Uhm we could be the Creature Group?"

"No!"

"Languid Living Things?"

"But we don't have a lack in energy or spirit so languid doesn't really work and I won't be insulted by calling myself a living _thing_."

"Just a suggestion, don't get your knickers in a knot!"

"Well I guess we can just think about it. If anyone comes up with a good suggestion, just mention it," said Luna.

Ron innocently asked, "Didn't Dumbledore say something about a password?"

The teens all groaned at the thought of thinking of another word or group of words. By this point in their 'meeting' the group was well spread out.

Harry, Oliver, and Teddy each had their own armchair and each was sitting in it a different way. Harry still had his knees drawn up, but now in a more relaxed fashion. Teddy had brough his legs up and was sitting on them. Oliver was spread out on his stomach across the two armrests, flexing his wings now and then. Ron was laying on his back and Hermione was laying on her stomach in the middle of the square. Luna was sitting cross-legged next to Hermione trying to straighten Hermione's hair with a charm that turned the tip of her wand into a straightening iron (only with no heat damage). Sadly, it was not going well, but Luna didn't seem to care. The Twins had curled up together on the couch and it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. On the other half of the couch, Cedric and Alex were sitting, each in his own relaxed fashion.

"Well, this place is pretty secret, so maybe a password having to do with secret things?" asked Cedric.

"Yeah, but plan old 'secret' is kind of boring, what's a good variation of secret?" asked Fred.

"How about 'Hidden Secrets'?" Luna suggested. Everyone paused to think about and couldn't think of anything wrong with it.

"'Hidden Secrets it is! Hermione, since you're closest, would you like to write that on the board?" Harry asked Hermione. Earlier they had transfigured part of the bulletin board into a chalk board. Fred just so happened to have a piece of chalk in his pocket.

"Sure," said Hermione.

After that the teens just sort of lounged around, waiting for Dumbledore. Occasionally someone would bring up a new subject, like the recent development of the Yawning Charm (a real joke charm that caused you to yawn, than anyone who was in the same room as you would also feel the urge to yawn and so on.), but the conversation would slowly die down and they went back to comfortable silence.

This went on for probably about an hour. Hermione had gotten a book for herself and lent one Teddy. The other boys had gotten into a discussion about one rule or another of Quidditch. Luna was making some of her infamous jewelry.

Suddenly a ding sounded throughout the common room and they all jumped up, wands out. Then they saw Dumbledore walking through the entrance and calmed down.

"Ah, sorry to have scared you. That ding is another safety feature. If anyone other than yourselves or the teachers comes up here, that ding will tell you. Think of it like a doorbell," said Dumbledore smiling gently. "I see that you have thought of a password." he pointed at their board.

"Yes sir, is 'Hidden Secrets' an acceptable password?" asked Hermione.

"Of course. After this you can go to your teachers went you want to change it. About your teachers, I am afraid that there were a few complications with their transportation. Sadly, they won't be here until tomorrow," said Dumbledore.

"Oh that's fine sir, it'll give us more time to settle in," said Cedric with only a fleeting look in the Headmaster's face.

"Ahh getting comfortable...Have any of you gone to the fifth floor? No, well as soon as you get the chance. Also I had a couple of things to tell you. I realize that we don't know how long you may be in Night Class. If would like to hear the recent gossip at any point, I'm sure the portraits would be most obliging. Also, I think you'll find that being in a secret group of classes opens you up to some of the other secrets this castle has to offer. Why just last week I was leaning against the wall of a Sixth floor corridor when I fell throw the wall into a completely new secret passageway. Most remarkable," he said this with a twinkle in his eye. The Twins seemed to take this new mystery as a challenge and already looked to be plotting ways of knowing every nook and cranny of the castle.

"For tonight I thought I would have the kitchen staff send you up some supper," he looked at his watch. "They should arrive not long after I leave." When their stomachs growled, the teens realized just how hungry they were.

"Kitchen staff, sir?" asked Hermione.

"I'm sure their one of your peers would be glad to explain. I'm afraid that I am on a rather tight schedule. Ah this is the part of this conversation that I didn't want to have. I will leave what looks like a medium-sized mirror in your possession. When I leave here, I'm going to a meeting to tell your guardians of your deaths. Then I will be making a formal announcement in the Great Hall for the students. That mirror will show you what is going on. I'm hoping you can use it for a bit of closure. Of course, the choice of whether to look or not is completely yours," said Dumbledore seriously. "The mirror will disappear this evening when the last person leaves the great hall. In the morning another kitchen staff member will come to guide you to your new cafeteria. Please be up by 8.

The teens looked at each other in horror. All of the lightness from earlier was gone. They were horrified of the reactions they were about to see. Looking at each other they all silently agreed that they were going to watch the mirror. They turned and watched Dumbledore slowly leaving their common room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-Page Break-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: Most of the **bold** lines are sentences directly from the third book, under the chapter "THE MARAUDER'S MAP." The other two words that are bold, "Animal Instincts" are the title of the story, so I tried to point them out. Warning, the next chapter is going to be pretty sad, morbid, (insert depressing word here). If any of you have any suggestions to the reactions of anyone; the students, the hybrids, or the parents, please just include it in your review and I will try to incorporate it. No promises, but I will definitely try.


End file.
